


Sleep deprivation

by Zoya113



Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: F/M, Father figure hidgens, Fluff, Gen, Hurt & Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:08:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22332418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoya113/pseuds/Zoya113
Summary: Paul has to think of a way to help Emma catch up on the sleep she’s been missing
Relationships: Emma Perkins & Henry Hidgens, Emma Perkins/ Paul Matthews
Comments: 5
Kudos: 78





	Sleep deprivation

“Come on babe. Bed time.” 

“I’m just working,” Emma waved Paul away with a dismissing hand. 

Paul shook his head. “You went to sleep at 4am last night. You should come to sleep.”

Emma didn’t take her eyes off her laptop but scrunched up her nose in denial. “Well I’m busy, man!” 

Paul leant against the archway of the bedroom door. “Your dedication to your study was cute the first time but now you’re just being ridiculous.” 

Emma squinted to look at the time on her laptop. “It’s only midnight. I’ll come to bed once I finish this page.” 

“Promise?” 

Emma nodded. “Mhm, yeah!” She added a little spike to her pitch and Paul knew she was lying. 

He raised one eyebrow and sighed. “I’m gonna come back and check on you in-“ 

“No, it’s fine,” Emma assured him. “You act like I’ll work myself to death,” she took her eyes off her screen to shoot him a more convincing smile. “I’ll come to bed as soon as I can. Don’t lose sleep over me.” 

Paul yawned and begrudgingly nodded. “But you better come to sleep. Too much study is bad for the brain.” 

“Well I gotta make up for the fact I did fuck all in school as a kid somehow babe,” Emma snorted. She rested her gaze back on her laptop and waved him off to bed. 

When Paul woke up again his eyes were already focused on the clock, 4am again as Emma waddled sleepily into bed and collapsed next to him in the sheets. 

She threw her arms around his back and tucked herself into his side with a yawn but he could tell from her breathing that she was yet to fall asleep. 

“G’night,” she mumbled into his back.   
Paul frowned and remained quiet, easing his breathing to pretend he was still asleep. 

Evidently she wasn’t happy about waking up in the morning but always pushed through it. 

“Maybe you should just like, sleep in.”

“No, shut up. I’m okay. I’ve done worse. I’ll-“ she was interrupted by another yawn.   
“I’ve got to get to school and see Hidgens.”

Paul shook his head. “He would send you home. He’d say-“ Paul paused to clear his throat, deepening his voice to sound more like the professor. “Emma, you’re too tired. Go home and get some sleep, appreciate your stage 4 NREM sleep cycle while you still have it!” He chuckled at his own impression. “Circadian rhythms or something right?”

“You’re thinking of Ultradian rhythms,” Emma snorted, pulling Paul’s pillow over her head to block out the morning sun. “Ever heard of REM rebound loser? If I go to sleep now I’m not getting any stage 4, I’ll just start dreaming again.” She rubbed her eyes and heaved herself up. “I’ll get up.”

“Well I don’t know what that means but I did tell you to go to bed earlier.” 

“I tried to!” She moaned. “But I just had stuff to do, I don’t know. I’m getting up, I’m getting up. Don’t worry.” 

Emma had never had the best sleep schedule but lately it had been awful. All across the week she had been staying up far too late and was finding it almost impossible to wake up in the mornings. She was getting temperamental and couldn’t concentrate and each day she was getting less sleep than the last. She had developed dark, black circles under her eyes and her breath was always short. Sometimes she went to school in her work uniform and sometimes she went to work in casual clothes. She was falling asleep on the couch and in the shower, barely able to ever keep her eyes open. Over dinner, she fell asleep mid conversation before snapping back up, too tired to even wipe the crumbs off her face.   
For whatever reason she wasn’t sleeping, and it was clearly getting out of hand. 

After dinner that night when she got up to head straight to her laptop, Paul had decided that was enough. “No, Emma. Put that down,” he snapped before she could pick it up. “Just take a quick nap, you’ve worked all day. You’re really hurting yourself doing this, you’re practically falling asleep standing up!” He hoped it didn’t sound too bossy. He was just worried about her.

Emma rolled her eyes, marching over to Paul to give him a hug for his efforts. “I’m not that tired.” 

“You clearly are,” he had to hold onto her a bit tighter to make sure she didn’t collapse in his hold. She was about to fall asleep in his arms. He planted a concerned kiss on her forehead. “Babe, you’re dying. Get some rest, alright?” 

Emma whined but didn’t have the energy to fight back after so many sleepless nights. “I’ve fucked my sleeping schedule,” she told him, letting him carry her back to her bedroom. “But I just can’t close my eyes, Paul,” she added. “Whenever I close them it’s like-ugh- I think about everything that’s happened. I get these awful nightmares that don’t go away.” 

“Emma, hun,” he held her tighter as he crawled into bed besides her for a moment. “I love you, I can’t stand to see you all torn up like this. What can I do? What can I do to help?” He held her to his chest. “You can’t just never sleep.” 

Emma nodded. “I know. It’s just hard.” She tucked her head into his neck. “But I like being next to you. I like listening to you breathe. It’s easier to sleep when I can hold your hand and feel safe,” she admitted, rubbing her eyes in a repetitive motion. 

“Wow, sleepy Emma has no filters huh? I would adore how romantic that was if you weren’t killing yourself. Go to sleep then, right now. I’ll be just here.” He wrapped his arms around her back and entwined their legs, letting her tuck her head under his chin. 

She was out in a second, her body completely still and her breathing slowed. 

He held on, too concerned to let her go.   
He let her catch up on what sleep she could manage but what he did not expect was for her to start crying. Before he could wake her up she was already back on her feet, wiping her eyes again. 

“Shit,” she groaned, pacing drowsily to the other side of the room. “I tried that time. I tried.” 

“Emma, what was that?” 

“It’s just the nightmares Paul. They’re so vivid and like, right there. I can’t deal with them!” She tugged at her hair before flopping back down onto the bed with a defeated sigh. “I tried. I really tried.” 

Paul stroked her hair, wrapping himself around her again. “That’s okay, you did your best, I-“ his voice cracked. “Babe, what’re the nightmares? Do they go away?” 

“Oh,” Emma sounded far too familiar with them. “They come and go, but I plan on avoiding them until they do.” Despite her exhaustion she still managed to seem proud and confident in her decision. “They’ll be going away soon for sure.” She nodded. “They’ve already been here too long.”

“Wanna try to sleep again?”

Emma shrugged. “As if I have a choice. I can’t stay awake anymore,” she groaned.

Paul ran his hands through her hair. “I’ll be here for you hun, try again.” He made sure to hold her tighter, closer to his chest where she could hear his heartbeat. He tousled her hair and planted gentle kisses on her forehead. 

Throughout her patchy, uneasy sleep she shook and whined, and after a measly one and a half hour she opened her eyes and shook her head. “This is bullshit,” she sighed. “It must be midnight by now.”

“It’s only just after eleven, actually,” he told her. 

“Em, what do you usually do when you get these nightmares?” He asked quietly, not wanting to jolt her from her state of half-sleep. 

“I would-“ she paused to think. “Well, I never did anything good about it. It wouldn’t work now,” she chuckled guiltily. “It’s Hidgens. He would let me sleep in his office while he was writing music, but I don’t think listening to music would work now.” Her hands moved under the sheets, balling up the blanket in her fists and kicking her legs until she could entwine them with Paul’s. 

“Should I- should I call Hidgens?” He felt guilty, he wanted to be the one to help. “Em, babe,” he rubbed circles on her neck with his thumbs. “Just give me the word and I’ll do it hun.” 

Emma sunk further into the sheets, her breathing was languid. “Hidgens will yell at me for not sleeping enough,” she took in one deep breath. 

“Do you think he could get you to fall asleep?” Paul questioned. “How well did that ever work for you?” 

Emma laughed and rolled onto her back. “Pretty damn well. I was just out like a light.” She tried to click her fingers but didn’t have the energy to carry through. “I like the clicking that the keys make and the like,” she gestured with her hand. “He had this little space heater in his office. It made these little clinking and buzzing sounds,” she purred at the thought.

“Tired Emma is a sweetheart,” Paul placed a hand on her chest to feel for her heartbeat. 

“Yeah, gotta get out my last words before I die,” she joked. 

“Do you want me to get Hidgens on the phone for you?” He offered, leaning across her to grab her phone on the nightstand. 

“As long as he’s not mad at me,” she pouted, curling herself back in on Paul who was having growing trouble making the phone call with Emma hanging onto his limbs. 

“He won’t be mad,” Paul tried to comfort her as he rang the phone. “He’ll answer faster if we ring him on yours, he always does. It’s favouritism,” he teased. “Watch.” And after two rings, Hidgens picked up. 

“Good evening, Emma dear!” He sounded enthusiastic to hear from her. “What can I help you with tonight?”

“Hi Professor, it’s me actually,” Paul gave a defeated laugh, knowing he was going to be second favourite regardless. “Calling on behalf of Emma.” 

Emma pressed her ear to Paul’s chest again, listening to him speak. He held the phone down closer so Emma could hear Hidgens’ voice. 

“Is everything alright?” 

Emma twitched her head at the sound of his voice, her fingers kneading at Paul’s shoulders. 

“Yeah, Emma just hasn’t been able to sleep lately, she told me she used to sleep really well in your office.” 

“No wonder, she’s been looking awful in class lately. She can barely keep her eyes open!” He rumbled. 

“She hasn’t been getting to sleep for about a week?” Paul guessed. “She’s got a grand total of twelve hours of sleep all up so...”

Hidgens sighed. “Oh that girl must be tired. How can I help?” 

Paul rested the phone on his chest so he could wrap both his arms around Emma. “I think she was wondering if she could stay the night at your place, I don’t want to be a pain if you’re working in the lab or going to bed yourself though.”

“No, I’ve got some writing I need to get done! I don’t see why not. When does she want to come over?” He paused briefly. “Is she in the room with you now? Can you put her on?” 

“Yeah, you’re on speaker, hold on a sec,” Paul nodded, tapping Emma’s shoulder. 

She mumbled, her head rolling to the side.

Paul froze. She had fallen asleep. “Em? Did you wanna go to Hidgens’?” He asked quietly, testing to see if she would wake up, but she was out cold. “Hey, Professor,” he lowered his voice to a whisper. “She’s fallen asleep while we were taking.” 

“Oh!” Hidgens gaped, crackling into silence on the other end of the line. “Shall I let you go then?” 

“Uhh,” Paul didn’t know. “Hold on a moment.” He nudged Emma to see if she was properly asleep. She was quiet and smiling, her head to Paul’s chest and her hands sleepily trying to wrap around the phone. 

Yeah. He could let Hidgens go, “she’s asleep, Professor,” he confirmed in a quiet whisper as if not to stir Emma. 

But in the quiet she shook and blinked her eyes back open. She looked a little more restful, more peaceful. Half-conscious, she turned her gaze to Paul just to look at him. 

“Hi, Em, nightmares?” 

“Oh, it didn’t work?” Came Hidgens’ voice, his voice small through the phone. “Well, how about you bring her over then?”

Emma mumbled at the sounds of their voices like she thought she was saying something before her eyes fluttered shot. 

“Hah, back to sleep,” Paul reported to Hidgens, playing gently with her hair, his thumb rubbing over the nape of her neck. “Just like that.”

“Mmm,” Hidgens must have been grinning. “Maybe that’s it. She used to fall asleep so quickly when I talked her into it. She’d lay on the couch and ask me what I was doing to get me talking. She’d be out like a light before I even finished,” he chuckled. “Oh, it’s a long story.” 

Paul‘s smile was crooked and uneven, half his face sunk into his pillow as he hugged Emma. He didn’t have anything better to do, and well, if the talking helped Emma, “I think I’ve got time, Hidgens.”


End file.
